Building Dialogue

95 / 104

JUNE 2015 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 95
WORDS: Jill Ladwig
I nside the medieval walls of Père Lachaise, the famous Paris cemetery, tourists
clutching maps meander its labyrinthine passages in a continuous stream to visit
the graves of illustrious souls like Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and JimMorrison. Denver
has its own rendition of Père Lachaise – the gracious Fairmount Cemetery, where its
own intelligentsia – the architects and patrons who shaped the city – are interred.
Founded in 1890, Fairmount’s grounds encompass 280 acres (Père Lachaise has
only 110), on which are planted 3,800 trees that make it the largest arboretum in the
state, as well as a rose garden that dates back to the days of Queen Victoria. There’s even
a Fairmount Rose.
Residents of Fairmount include Frank Edbrooke, the so-called “dean of Denver ar-
chitecture,” creator of the Brown Palace Hotel; Aaron Morill Gove, who, with his part-
ner Thomas F. Walsh, designed such landmarks as Union Station and the Wynkoop
Building; and Robert S. Roeschlaub, renowned designer of almost a dozen buildings
on the National Historic Register, including the Central City Opera House and the
Chamberlin Observatory at University of Denver. Among the other luminaries of
Fairmount are the city’s founding families, including the Elitches, the (Temple)
Buells, the Walsens of Walsenburg and the Fisher family of the May D&F depart-
ment store chain, five of whom still serve on the Fairmount Cemetery board of
directors.
Today, to commemorate its 125th anniversary, the historic Denver cemetery is
undergoing a major renovation aimed at adding to the numbers and enhancing
the experience and of visitors. The $5 million project, led by CPRA Studio with
Sprocket Design-Build, both based in Denver, is primarily focused on the mor-
tuary and office building, and surrounding landscape. The overall goal is to
open up the verdant grounds to bring inmore people and to host more events
– and not just funerals.
“We already have a surprising number of family celebrations here, but we
want to have more,” said Jim Cavoto, vice president of sales and marketing
at Fairmount.
He says Fairmount is the site of many events, besides the obvious, that
mark the big moments in peoples’ lives, such as weddings and bar mitz-
vahs, which take advantage of the loveliness of sites like the Rose Garden
or the Ivy Chapel. Cavoto estimates about 10 weddings per year take place
at the cemetery, most in the Ivy Chapel.
Its gothic revival architecture and soaring – though intimate – interior
were what drew John and Sondra Touris, whomarried there in 1979. They
loved the “old school” look of the chapel and the quiet beauty of the
setting, which perfectly accommodated their small number of guests.
Once people get over the initial surprise of having a party at a ceme-
tery, they say it’s a lovely place to host a special event.
But, according to Cavoto, the board decided it needed to update
the mortuary building, built in 1960, and to make the west entrance